POLL: Who are the problem teleworkers?

More federal employees than ever are phoning it in to Uncle Sam, according to the latest telework status report released by the Office of Personnel Management. About 25 percent of the federal workforce eligible to telework did so in 2011.

Federal News Radio’s initial article on the telework report touched off a lively debate in the article’s comments section about the “problem employees” in telework, who threaten to “ruin it for the rest of us,” one commenter said.

The commenter said most of these employees are between the ages of 20 and 30 “and are part of the ‘Entitlement Generation.'”

The poll in this story is no longer available.

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However, another reader disagreed.

“Most of the problem people on this end, are typically late 40s, early 50s, and have this ‘untouchable’ attitude since they’ve been in for so long,” the commenter said. “A lazy one or two per office exists no matter what their age or demographic.”

While the OPM report doesn’t specifically mention teleworkers behaving badly, it does make note of several trends relating to employee age and seniority.

Only 17 percent of employees age 29 and under reported teleworking in 2011, compared with at least 20 percent for older employees.

Also, those under age 40 most frequently reported barriers to teleworking — about 70 percent, according to the report.

Similarly, employees who have been at their agencies for 10 years or fewer more frequently reported barriers to teleworking (71 percent) compared to employees with between 11 and 20 years of experience (67 percent) and more than 20 years of experience (61 percent), the report found.

Tell us what you think.

Who are the “problem teleworkers?” Is a certain age group more likely to abuse the privilege of teleworking?

Francis Rose is the host of In Depth, which airs weekdays from 4-7 p.m. on 1500 AM in the Washington, DC metro area and online everywhere. Francis has covered all three branches of the federal government as a broadcast journalist since 1998. He joined Federal News Radio in 2006, and launched In Depth in 2008 as a daily show focused on connecting federal executives to the information they need to do their jobs better.